If Tomorrow Never Comes
by Emma Brown
Summary: The Chamber of Secrets. I know it's been done to death but I couldn't help write my own take on it. Ron and Hermione destroy the horcrux and realise that it's now or never. Spoilers from DHP2.


_an: I know this has been done to death but I really just wanted to write my take on what happens. *Spoilers* There was an interview in the past sayig that Ron and Hermione are confronted by a "Voldemort tidal wave" of some sort when they destory the Horcrux, which got me really excited. I hope you enjoy what I wrote. _

_JK Rowling and I are in contact right now and she's thinking of giving me the rights to Harry Potter...until then, I own nothing. _

If Tomorrow Never Comes

Her hand was firmly clasped in his. He led her down the long corridors, twisting and turning trying to avoid the blasts and explosions going off around them.

"We're almost there!" he called behind him. She replied with a shriek as two men tackled each other, crashing to the ground just a few feet away from her. Ron swung her around so that she was now next to him, his arm draping around her shoulder as another blast nearly knocked them to the ground. She crouched near his body, ducking her head, her hand gripping onto his tightly-she was sure he would not have feeling in it for days.

"There!" he yelled, pointing his wand out towards the seemingly empty corridor to their left. The corridor that housed the girl's lavatory that led to the Chamber of Secrets. They quickly stood and rushed forward, crashing into the lavatory and stumbling to the floor with the amount of force.

"That was graceful," he quipped before standing and offering her his hand. She grinned and took it as he helped hoist her up.

"What now?" she whispered. The silence inside the bathroom was an eerie contrast to the loud screams and explosions they had just been a part of moments before. She looked over at him and saw that he was staring at the sinks, a look of pure defeat on his face. "Ron?"

"Only parseltongue will open it." He muttered.

Hermione let her eyes travel to the sinks again and sighed. "Of course. Parseltongue..." She turned her head and looked over her shoulder at the closed door. "Shall we find Harry maybe?"

Ron shook his head, still staring at the sinks. "No, he's trying to find the diadem. Merlin only knows where that is and when he's going to locate it. We need to get those basilisk fangs, Hermione. If we don't this entire year was pointless."

Hermione nodded, knowing that Ron was right. They had no idea where Harry was at the moment. He could still be in the Ravenclaw common room with Luna, but how were they supposed to get inside? They needed to do this on their own. This was their mission-Ron's and hers.

"Well, what do you suppose we do? We can't just…"

She was interrupted when Ron let out a horrible strangled hissing noise. Once he was finished, they remained in silence for a few moments, watching the still sinks.

"Was that…" Hermione began.

"I'm trying to remember what Harry said to open the damn locket." Ron said through gritted teeth. His hands were bunched in fists at his sides, his face and ears growing redder by the minute. He continued to try and open the passage way, each attempt proving to be more futile than the first.

"Is there anything I can do?" Hermione asked timidly. She knew he was getting frustrated that nothing was happening. Ron glanced at her and shook his head. "Are you sure?"

He let out a deep breath and looked at her. "How about you get us some brooms?"

"Brooms? Why are we going to need brooms?"

"If…_When_ I finally open this damn thing we're going to have to find a way out. We obviously can't climb our way back to the top, can we? We'll have to fly. Last time we had Fawkes. I don't think he's going to come to our rescue this time 'round."

"Right, of course." Hermione said, feeling silly. "Brooms," she said to herself. She began walking towards the door when she felt Ron pull her back. She turned to face him and saw that his eyes were wide, eyebrows disappearing behind his too long hair.

"You don't actually think I'm going to let you go out there and search for brooms _manually_ do you? You're barking,"

"I am no _barking,_ Ronald. How else am I supposed to get them?" She placed her hands on her hips and stared at him pointedly.

He smirked at her, a soft glint in his eyes. "Well, are you a witch or not?" he asked. She looked at him and soon a grin was forming on her lips as well. She shook her head and let out a soft chuckle. Raising her wand she pointed it towards the door.

"Accio brooms!"

They waited a few moments before the sound of two objects hitting the door alerted them that it had worked. Hermione began walking towards the door but felt Ron pull her back again.

"What is it this time?" she asked, rolling her eyes. Ron gently pushed her behind him and began walking towards the bathroom's door. He opened it cautiously before hastily snatching up the two old school brooms and shutting the door behind him. Hermione was staring at him with an odd look on her face. "Oh yes, I could have _never_ done that."

"I didn't want to risk it. Someone could have seen the brooms flying here and followed them. They could have been ready to blast away the first person to open that door."

Hermione stared at him, her mouth open slightly. He looked at her for a moment, his ears turning scarlet. With a quick clearing of his throat, he directed his attention back to the sinks and proceeded on with his attempts at parseltongue.

After what seemed hours (even though it was only about thirty minutes), the sound of porcelain moving on tile echoed throughout the bathroom. Hermione gasped as she watched as the large, gaping hole formed in the floor.

"Ron, you've done it!" she yelled, running towards him and wrapping her arms around him. He hugged her back, a dumbstruck look on his face.

"Yeah," he said in amazement. "I guess I did,"

"You're brilliant," she said warmly. She took his hand in hers and walked closer towards the edge. "It's quite dark," she commented softly. "And deep…it seems."

"It's fairly deep," Ron said, handing Hermione a broomstick. They hesitantly parted hands and stepped apart. "I'll go first,"

"Al-Alright," Hermione answered, still peering into the dark abyss. Ron positioned himself at the edge and leaned forward. "Wait!" Hermione yelled suddenly, pulling him back by his arm.

"What is it?"

Hermione blushed now feeling foolish. "It's just…" she paused before letting out a deep breath. "It's just I've never done this before and I feel very rushed. I'm aware we don't have a lot of time, but I would like to ease myself into this if that's not too much trouble. I mean…" she looked over the edge again and Ron noticed her become paler and slightly green. "Is it a straight drop? And what's at the bottom? Am I going to have to use a cushioning charm? I would like to know if I have to keep my wand out or not…"

Ron grinned at her and shook his head. "It's more of a slide than a free-fall. It's not the _softest_ landing if I can remember correctly, but I don't think you'll need to set a cushioning charm…" He paused and eyed the girl next to him. She was chewing on her finger nails, her eyes seemingly glued to the large hole in front of them. "Hermione," he said softly. She looked up at him and visibly relaxed a bit. He held out his hand and she gratefully walked towards him and placed her smaller palm inside his larger one.

"On the count of three?" he asked. Hermione nodded, gripping onto her broomstick and Ron's hand tightly.

"One," she said, her voice shaking slightly.

"Two," Ron continued.

"Three,"

She did not scream while sliding down the long and twisting shoot, but she did automatically clamp her eyes shut, her fingers squeezing Ron's hand painfully tight. A few moments later they reached the bottom, crashing to the ground atop the millions of animal bones.

"Oh that's disgusting," Ron heard Hermione say. She was dusting off her jeans, eyeing a large pile of bones which broke her fall.

"I know," Ron grimaced. "Are you alright?"

Hermione glanced up at him and nodded. "Yes-I was just being childish."

"No, it was pretty scary." Ron said with a soft smile. Hermione grinned and picked up her discarded broomstick. "Lead the way,"

Ron nodded and stepped through a circular entryway. "I think it's this way," They walked cautiously down the long corridor, Hermione making sounds of disgust as their footfalls crunched on more dead rodent bones. "Yes, we're going the right way." Ron said, glancing at the large pile of rocks he had made nearly six years ago when he cleared the path once he and Harry were separated. He stopped walking and turned around to face Hermione.

"See right there," he said, pointing to a dusty corner. "That's where Lockhart's charm backfired."

Hermione rolled her eyes and pushed him forward, trying to ignore the small smirk that had formed on his lips. After walking a few more minutes, they stopped at a snake engraved door that was already open, undoubtedly when Harry had ventured into the Chamber second year.

"It must be right through here," Hermione said.

"Must be," Ron agreed.

As they continued on their journey through the Chamber, Hermione felt her heartbeat quicken. It was almost as though she could hear the hissing of the large basilisk that had once dwelled inside this place. Her hand found Ron's as they approached another large room-a room with a statue of Salazar Slytherin welcoming them from the other end. They both knew this was the room from Harry's description.

"Wow," Ron breathed, his eyes scanning the room.

They stood staring at the room for a few moments before Hermione pulled him forward. "Come on, we've already been down here for twenty minutes. Merlin knows what's going on up there," Ron nodded, knowing that she meant the battle. They walked deeper into the room. They started off fast but soon transcended into short, hesitant steps and Hermione knew why. The reason for them coming down here in the first place-the basilisk-was down here. Not alive, of course-but they both knew that they would be stumbling upon the body any moment.

And they were right.

Hermione spotted it first, stopping dead in her tracks as her brown eyes found the large, upturned body of the large snake. Its mouth was open; it's skin hardly visible over the large bones.

"Are you alright?" Ron asked after a few moments of staring at the huge creature. Hermione turned to face him, her back on the basilisk. She knew it was inevitable-that once she saw the basilisk again she would be reminded of that horrible time in second year when she had been petrified because of it.

"I'm fine," she said, dropping her broomstick and taking out her wand from her pocket. She pointed it towards the beast. "Accio fangs."

The sound of teeth dislodging from gums was heard and soon a heap of the basilisk's fangs were rolling towards them. "That wasn't so hard," Hermione said in almost a whisper.

"We still have to kill the Horcrux," Ron said, knowing full well that _that_ was the hardest part.

Hermione sighed and nodded, taking her beaded bag out of her sock where she had stuffed it down. She rifled through it for a few moments before pulling out the Horcrux. Firmly grasping a fang in his hand, Ron glared down at the cup which was now on the floor. He paused a moment and looked at Hermione who was standing off to the side, chewing on her finger nails once again.

"Here," he said, holding the fang out to her. "You do it."

"Me?" Hermione asked. "Why?"

"Well, I already got to kill one. It's only fair that you get to kill one too. You've done just as much if not more work than all of us trying to find these things. You need to do this."

Hermione nodded slowly and took the fang from his hand. "Thanks Ronald-I think."

Ron chuckled humourlessly as he bent down and held the cup in place.

"Is it...is it going to do anything?" Hermione asked.

Ron thought back to the night in the woods when he had destroyed the locket. He shook the mental picture of Hermione and Harry in a romantic embrace out of his head and focused on Hermione, who was staring at him with wide brown eyes.

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "The locket...well, it fought back...it showed me stuff."

"Stuff?" Hermione asked. "What kind of stuff?"

He felt his ears and neck growing red and he was sure she saw this too. "Just...things that I didn't like, you know? My fears, I guess."

"Oh." Hermione answered softly.

"I don't think that will happen now. I became emotionally connected to the locket from wearing it so often. I think that was the main reason for that happening. But I wouldn't rule out something happening once you stab this cup. You-Know-Who would never make it that easy."

Hermione nodded, knowing that Ron was right. She took a deep breath and held the fang up high. She felt Ron's hand on hers, his thumb softly rubbing her knuckles before she swung it down in one fluid motion, the tip of the fang piercing the centre of the cup.

At first nothing happened, the cup remained still and seemingly unharmed.

"Did I do it right?" Hermione asked in a whisper.

"Yeah…I think so." Ron answered, looking at the cup. "I guess nothing is going to…"

His words were interrupted when the cup began shaking. Hermione dropped the fang and slowly crawled away from it, Ron following suit. Water began squirting out of the place where the fang had touched the cup. It began leaking out slowly, but soon it was shooting out like a fire hose, the pressure of it knocking both Ron and Hermione back.

They both stood up quickly and rushed towards the cup, trying desperately to stop the water from shooting out. The large room was filling up at an unbelievable rate, the water already at the couple's ankles.

"What do we do?" Hermione asked.

"Get out of here," Ron answered before grabbing Hermione's hand and racing towards the door. The sound of the water shooting out of the cup ceased the moment they turned their back on it. Ron tightened his grip on her hand as they saw a large shadow over them, a shadow that can only be of one thing. Slowly, they turned around and to their horror, saw the water, piled up into a wave-like structure that was towering well above their heads. It shifted in mid-air, taking the form of a person. Soon, two red eyes gleamed out of the water, causing Hermione to scream and Ron to curse loudly. The water crashed down on them, sweeping them away in a mad, painful motion.

Hermione tried desperately to hold on to Ron's hands but the water was splitting them up. She could hear Ron shouting her name before water consumed him. She yelled out his name too, frantically trying to swim towards him, but a current was pulling her back. Her head was bobbing above the water and she saw his red hair on the other side of the room-he was trying to swim towards her as well.

"Ron!" she yelled, trying to stay above water long enough for him to get to her or vice versa. He looked up and stopped swimming. His eyes locked with hers and Hermione only saw horror reflected in them.

"Hermione, swim towards me!" he bellowed, his voice cracking. She saw Ron trying to swim furiously towards her before she turned around only to see, with complete terror that a giant tidal wave was lingering above her head. She gasped quite audibly before it crashed down on her, engulfing her in freezing water. She couldn't feel her body; the crash of the wave had rendered her numb with pain for a few moments. The water was violent as it crashed around her, pushing her deeper and deeper into the darkness of the water. It knew she had been the one to stab the cup-it wanted its revenge. She was going to die-drown in the Chamber of Secrets. Her head was getting fuzzy with lack of oxygen. In her mind's eye she saw Ron-asking her to dace at the wedding, comforting her when she was scared and nervous, taking care of her while they were at Shell Cottage, taking a potential fatal blow by opening the door of the girls lavatory instead of her to fetch the brooms.

No. She would not die like this-not without all these unsaid things still lingering in the air between them. She refused to die before telling Ron how she felt about him and that was that. Finally regaining feeling in her arms and legs, she waved them around frantically, trying to get herself afloat. Slowly, she felt herself rising upward and before she knew it she was gasping for air at the surface of the water. Ron was still trying desperately to swim towards her.

"Hermione!" he screamed. Hermione, still gasping for air, swam towards him. Once they met, his arms were around her waist and she clung to him, her arms around his neck.

"What-What are we going to do?" Hermione yelled over the sounds of the water crashing around them.

"We need to stab it again!" Ron yelled.

Hermione nodded as best she could. Together, both she and Ron took a deep breath and submerged themselves beneath the water's surface once again. They swam to the floor of the chamber where the cub had remained rooted. With the hand that wasn't holding onto Hermione's, Ron pulled out the basilisk fang from his pocket and held it out to Hermione. Squinting beneath the water, Hermione took it-knowing full well that it had to be her since she had initiated the first blow. She swam deeper and as best she could, allowed the tip of the fang to hit the same place on the cup it had hit before.

It all happened so suddenly. It was as though someone had unplugged a stopper and allowed all the water to drain out of the room. Soon, Hermione found herself lying flat on her stomach, drenched from head to toe on the cold, wet floor of the chamber. Ron crawled towards her, coughing uncontrollably.

"Are you-are you alright?"

Hermione crawled up so that she was on her knees and nodded, tears leaking out the side of her eyes. Ron saw this and slowly wrapped her in his arms. She clung onto him, allowing her tears to fall freely now that she knew they were safe. "That was so scary," she cried. "I thought…"

"I know," Ron said, his voice cracking. "I know. But you did it! You killed the Horcrux!"

Hermione grinned and leaned back so that she was staring into his eyes. Both their smiles faltered a bit when they realized how close they were. Hermione was practically sitting on his lap, her arms still around his neck and his still holding her at her waist.

Without saying a word, Hermione leaned forward and pressed her lips lightly to his. She pulled back quickly and saw that his eyes were wide with surprise.

"I can't go another day without telling you how I feel," Hermione whispered. "I don't know what's going to happen when we go back up there. I don't know what tomorrows going to be like and I can't bear to face another day without telling you that you mean so much to me. I-I love you Ron. And if I die in this bloody war tonight-I need to be sure you know that."

Ron was staring at her, his eyes still wide in shock.

"You love me?" he asked, his voice was softer than Hermione had ever heard it before.

She blushed and looked down, too embarrassed to meet his eyes. "Very much so. I have for a long time." She quickly looked up and removed her arms from around his neck. "Oh but Ron, don't think that just because I said this means I expect you to say it back! I know I've unloaded quite a bit just now but…given the circumstances…"

"It's now or never." Ron mumbled. "Isn't it." He looked into her eyes and grinned slightly. "Hermione, I love you too…"

Now it was her turn for her eyes to widen in shock. "You do?"

"More than you know," he said. They looked at each other for a few moments in silence, not sure what to do.

"Hermione," Ron said after a few moments of silence. "I really want to kiss you."

Hermione bit her lower lip and felt her heart leap into her chest. "I really want you to kiss me,"

And so they did. Ron leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. Her lips parted his softly, her arms finding their way around his neck once again. It was soft and slow and so brilliantly peaceful that neither one of them wanted to let go and part of air. But once they did, they rested their foreheads together and took deep breaths.

"I guess we should get back up there." Hermione said regrettably.

"Suppose so," Ron said in a hoarse voice. They parted and picked up the destroyed diadem. Ron grabbed a few more fangs that had remained rooted to the ground as well. They both picked up the brooms that had washed away towards the back of the chamber during the mayhem and walked hand and hand to the entrance.

"Ready?" Ron asked, straddling his broomstick. When she didn't respond, Ron turned around only to find with some amusement that Hermione was trying to steady herself on an already hovering broomstick. She twisted a bit in the air and ungracefully slipped off, landing in a puddle on the floor.

"Bloody broom," Hermione grumbled, rubbing her elbow.

"You alright?" asked Ron, a smirk on his lip.

"Yes," Hermione answered with a roll of her eyes.

"Care to share a broom then?"

Hermione looked at him and smiled. "Thanks," She straddled the broom behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her cheek against his broad back.

"You know," Ron said in a gravelly voice. "You had one thing wrong back there."

"What was that?" Hermione asked, her heat beating widely.

Ron turned and looked over his shoulder. "There is no way you are dying tonight."

"Ron you don't…"

"I do know." He said forcefully. "I will make sure of it, Hermione. Understand me?"

She nodded. "I do."

Ron smirked and turned back around. "Hold on tight, alright? Don't let go."

Hermione snuggled her face into his back again, tightening her arms around his waist as they lifted up and soared out of the chamber. "Never," she whispered.

* * *

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